Review: King Lear February 11, 2014 Sam Mendes’ recent musical production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory only really gathered pace after the interval. It was as if the director couldn’t be bothered with all the establishing stuff and was just waiting to get inside the wacky psychedelic funhouse that is Wonka’s factory, with all its potential for spectacular set pieces [...]
Where to drink February 10, 2014 London has always been on the vanguard of multiculturalism, and that extends to venues to quench your thirst. Andina opened in Shoreditch and has already won a devoted Peruvian and hipster fanbase with its bar. Martin Morales, former DJ and music exec and founder of Soho’s Ceviche, has opened a restaurant inspired by Andean cuisine [...]
Review: Out of the Furnace February 7, 2014 One star Christian Bale may be the king of actorly metamorphoses, but his character in Out of the Furnace is just how I imagine he is in real life: dour, depressing and humourless. All of which are adjectives that apply to the film as a whole. Two hours of muscle-flexing, fighting and staring into the [...]
Where to drink January 24, 2014 Bars and clubs continue to open as London recovers from the post-Christmas blues. Chakana is a new Incan-themed nightclub next to Selfridges, spearheaded by Nick House (Steam and Rye, Mahiki), who recruited international clubland superstars Andrew Dax (London, Ibiza), Corrado Mozzillo (Italy) and Augusto Rosillo (Argentina) to create a nightlife experience akin to Tarantino’s From [...]
Coen brothers deliver the goods January 23, 2014 FILM INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Cert 15 | By Alex Dymoke Four Stars INSIDE Llewyn Davis is an offbeat, directionless sulk through the unforgiving streets of early 60s New York. These 60s don’t so much swing as shiver: winter-time Greenwich Village is wan, washed-out, freezing. The aspiring musicians who shuffle through it aren’t carried forth by [...]
The Wolf of Wall Street is a joyous tale of decadence January 16, 2014 FILMTHE WOLF OF WALL STREETCert 18 | By Steve DinneenFour Stars THE WOLF of Wall Street is a film about awful people doing awful things in a company where being awful paid unbelievable dividends, for a while at least. Thankfully, in the hands of septuagenarian director Martin Scorsese, this doesn’t translate into an awful film; [...]
Brutal slavery epic is destined for awards January 9, 2014 FILM 12 YEARS A SLAVE Cert 15 | By Simon Thomson Five Stars STEVE McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave is a brilliant film, but its brutality makes for difficult viewing. That might be the point. Based on a memoir of the same name, the book’s subtitle offers a succinct, albeit bloodless, summary of the film: [...]
Arts and lifestyle highlights for the next twelve months January 5, 2014 From Glastonbury to Shakespeare to Matisse, you won’t be short of things to do in 2014 MUSICArcade Fire confirmed as headliners for Glastonbury 2014The Glastonbury 2014 lineup is being kept under-wraps until summer, but that hasn’t stopped rumours surfacing thanks to loose-tongued artists and hints dropped by organiser Emily Eavis. Arcade Fire instigated a flurry [...]
Two Doctors play very distinct villains December 19, 2013 THEATREAMERICAN PSYCHOAlmeida Theatre | By Steve DinneenFive Stars MATT Smith looks nothing like how I imagine Patrick Bateman, the axe-wielding investment banker at the heart of Bret Easton Ellis’ novel American Psycho. In fact, he doesn’t really look like any other human being apart, perhaps, from the guy who posed for the Easter Island statues. [...]
A classy end to a successful season of Michael Grandage December 12, 2013 THEATRE HENRY V Noël Coward theatre | By Xenobe Purvis Four Stars OVER the course of Michael Grandage’s five-play season at the Noel Coward Theatre, the venue has seen star-studded casts perform parts as diverse as spliff-smoking fairies and cross-dressing soldiers. And now it is home to Henry V, which – although offering us nothing [...]